[Movies] Thoughts on the disaster movie genre.

I'm a bit of a sucker for those kinds of movies, (examples being 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact) so I wonder how you all feel about those kinds of movies in general.

For me, it seems like the movies kind of let it off easy on the disasters in general, in that there always seems to be survivors in the end, which leaves me unfulfilled at times. I can't recall seeing a movie where everyone is actually killed off by the end. Can't a disaster actually be the winner in one of these movies for once?

The plots of these movies are also baffling at times, but the way I watch them is to disregard everything about the plots, and only watch for the action scenes of destruction and death, which seems to make it a lot better.

I love these movies too, it's a shame they cost so much to produce, narrowing the number of releases solely due to production budget. (I disagree with the 2012 film though effects were awesome, plot was just embarassing)

I love these movies too, it's a shame they cost so much to produce, narrowing the number of releases solely due to production budget. (I disagree with the 2012 film though effects were awesome, plot was just embarassing)

What parts of 2012's plot did you not like? Granted I wasn't fond of the plots of these disaster movies in general, but 2012's plot did sort of make sense if it were to happen in real-life.

Armageddon was a real let-down though. It was all about the damn rock and nothing about destruction and death to Earth.

Although it isn't a real "disaster movie" per say, I found Poseidon to be fairly entertaining too. Didn't get to see the original (The Poseidon Adventure) though, although I heard it's pretty much the same thing.

Originally Posted by Orby

Some people just want to watch the world burn :P

I also love these type of movies then again I watch alot of rubbish lol

Rubbish movies can be suprisingly entertaining at times. Same reason why I'm fond of the Final Destination series. The plot is straight-forward, but the deaths are the selling point.

A few other not actual disaster movies (but are kind of, because I mentioned Poseidon, although they are even less of the disaster genre) that I enjoyed were the Turbulence movies and Airplane! (Although Airplane! was about the comedy and less about the disaster.)

Meh, I really dislike the Cataclysm scenario movies, in effect it results in the following five things always happening.

1. Random event being observed by scientists forewarn of coming apocalypse, no one in authoritative positions believe said scientists, and thus warnings go unnoticed.

2. Shit starts to go down, people get freaked out, wonder why Government had no clue why these things happened (which is no surprise since the authority must always be thrown into chaos to give a more dramatic effect to things, which is why #1 always happens in some degree).

3. A good majority of peoples and populations are killed around the globe, a good number of governments are destroyed, and refugees are piling up on any landmarks unaffected (or not as badly affected) as their place of origin. Chaos still ensues as the world looks like it will end in the next few hours.

After this point, the movie ends in one of two ways:

4A. Scientists from the beginning (or a combination of said scientists in the beginning and the main protagonist "survivor" and his troupe) find some sort of magical Deus Ex machina solution to the catastrophic event, which leads to a huge gauntlet of hurdles as the world begins to try and kill the protagonist on his mission at every turn, possibly killing some of his secondary protagonist friends.

5A. The main protagonist manages to execute the deus ex solution at the very last minute before everything "ends", world is left a complete mess, but it is in a stable enough state that humanity can rebuild rather smoothly and quickly.

4B. The aforementioned scientists (or a combination of them and the main protagonist survivor) find there is no possible solution to the epidemic, thus they being planning on finding the safest location on earth to outlast the raging cataclysm, a handful of side protagonists die, as the main protagonist and the rest of the group overcome hurdles and obstacles thrown in their way by nature, barely managing to reach the "safety zone" before the cataclysm hits them and kills them all.

5B. Main protagonist survives, emerges from his hole in the ground, and finds a completely devastated earth, very few if any structures remain of humanity, he/she finds other survivors and thanks (insert religious belief or whatever rationality which "saved" them) that he/she is alive. Protagonist then contemplates of the fate he/she was almost to meet, and finds sorrow in the loss of those who died.Humanity lives in a decimated world, but will manage to slowly rebuild given enough time, but the world will not be the same.

Whenever I find myself watching a disaster movie, at least 4 parts of the above happen to some degree, and the predictability of the movies plot ruins the experience for me.

But if youre into seeing giant explosions and famous landmarks get destroyed its a nice show, just not worth a trip to the movies IMO though.

A few other not actual disaster movies (but are kind of, because I mentioned Poseidon, although they are even less of the disaster genre) that I enjoyed were the Turbulence movies and Airplane! (Although Airplane! was about the comedy and less about the disaster.)

I love them, especially the killer asteroid ones. Always interesting to see how people deal with the news of "Oh hey you're all going to die soon". Even though, 99% of the time, they don't. Deep Impact, that comet should of destroyed all life on Earth.

My favorites
1. Twister, grew up on this movie, and it's one of the best movies ever made.
2. Melancholia. It's very different, but it's still a disaster movie imo.
3. The Day After Tomorrow. Pretty neat movie with a decent cast, and nice soundtrack. Still prefer it over 2012.
4. Dante's Peak. Grew up on this movie, still pretty good.
5. Deep Impact

I love them, especially the killer asteroid ones. Always interesting to see how people deal with the news of "Oh hey you're all going to die soon". Even though, 99% of the time, they don't. Deep Impact, that comet should of destroyed all life on Earth.

My favorites
1. Twister, grew up on this movie, and it's one of the best movies ever made.
2. Melancholia. It's very different, but it's still a disaster movie imo.
3. The Day After Tomorrow. Pretty neat movie with a decent cast, and nice soundtrack. Still prefer it over 2012.
4. Dante's Peak. Grew up on this movie, still pretty good.
5. Deep Impact

Basically a story about two sisters and their relationship (Pretty much 90% of the movie) as a "mysterious planet" is on a collision course with Earth.(10% of the movie). It's pretty much a drama movie with little to no action pieces, so some may not like it.

Well, if I've learned anything from Deep Impact it's that after a meteor strike the entire Earth will become boring and unwatchable.

I generally dislike them because their plots are awful, and only watch them for the scenes of shit getting destroyed. (Which is pretty much the point of a disaster movie)

Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

- Thucydides

There is a modern myth that people have always tended towards democracy, constitutions, electoral rights; but in truth, love of freedom has never been the predominant note of popular politics. At most times, popular demand has been for a strong government.